Author Topic: State of the Galaxy  (Read 10353 times)

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Offline CountBuggula

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As there hasn't been a ton of activity here lately, I just wanted to quell any fears that the project is dead, and put together an updated list of what remaining assets are needed and available for release.  There's remarkably few assets still needed, but there's still plenty of work to be done.

Ships:


Unfinished and Required for release:
Correllian Corvette - complete, awaiting in-game conversion
ISD-II - Model by Brand-X complete, texturing completion in process by Zookeeper
E-Wing - complete, awaiting in-game conversion

Unfinished OST ships not required for initial release
Mon Cals - Bobbtman completed Home One, plenty other varieties available
ISD-I - Enough differences between this and deuce that a complete remake is required.
Executor - Don't think anyone's even attempted this one
Nebulon B - PHRiSCo has a model near-completion, no texture yet.  edit: PHRiSCo reported in, still working on it.
Gallofree Transport - Several partially completed models exist, currently abandoned.

EU Ships
Any EU ship can potentially be accepted for the project, given it matches the level of quality required and fits thematically.  Chief1983 ultimately has the final say as to what will be accepted.  It's much more important that the model is high-quality and fits well with the OT movies than matching any existing images/models/data from non-movie sources (including previous X-Wing games).

Be sure to search and read through all existing forum threads regarding any EU ship you're considering to avoid repeating mistakes or pitfalls from previous attempts.  ESPECIALLY true for the Assault Gunboat.

Cockpit Models:
No work has yet been done here.  It's something that many have asked for and would be a nice addition to the mod, but not currently a priority, and not required for initial release.  Quality submissions would be welcome.

So What Else?
Beyond graphical assets, the main work that's left is in mission fredding, tweaking gameplay, testing, and multiplayer balance.  And while I've been assured much is being accomplished in those areas behind the scenes, it's not nearly as exciting as model work so there's rarely screenshots to be shared.

There are several positions open on the team if you'd like to lend a hand.  See the stickied thread for what's currently available.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2014, 10:48:54 am by CountBuggula »

 
Thanks for the update, it's nice to have a grasp on how far along you guys have gotten.

Some questions though.

Approximately where in the timeline are you guys looking to have the campaign start from?  It's pretty clear that it will be well after the PT, but will it be before the events of ANH?

If so are there any intentions to follow what was established in the EU, such as the Rebellion using more antiquated fighters (Z-95's, Y-Wings) until the defection of the Incom team that designed the X-Wings?  Or deviating from the X-Wing series and not introducing the A-Wing and B-Wing until sometime after the events ANH or ESB?  Or are you going to follow in the footsteps of X-Wing for the sake of variety?

I only ask since if you're planning on starting with events prior to ANH (early Rebellion) it would be interesting to see the evolution of both the Rebel and Imperial Navy's  (ie, the Empire using VSD's, Neb's, etc until shortly before ANH).

Basically I'm just curious as to the design choices the team wants to make in regards to the part of the Star Wars history they intend to start from and if there's any desire to have events in their campaign reflect the events of the history presented in the EU as opposed to a completely original interpretation of events.

Keeping the scope of the initial (I suppose if I should have asked if you guys are intending to do episodic releases) campaign smaller might help those of us who have some ideas when fredding missions stay in line with what the core team wants to achieve with this mod.  I might be asking all this and you folks already have a campaign outlined or even written.

Keep up the great work, everything looks fantastic so far.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2014, 11:28:24 am by On_Your_Six »

 

Offline swashmebuckle

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The single player campaigns for our first release take place before ANH during the time when the X-wing is being phased into the Alliance military. We aren't using the A-wing or B-wing for these campaigns, though they do appear in standalone missions set later. We will be using an episodic release format, and future installments will be set later in the Galactic Civil War, though we might also go back in time a bit further if we get appropriate ships.

Thanks for making this post CountBuggula! The project has come a long way :)

 

Offline Aardwolf

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CountBuggula is on the FotG team? But he doesn't have a FotG badge? Huh.

 

Offline swashmebuckle

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Buggula is looking at taking the webmaster job that has been open for like six years :D

 

Offline CountBuggula

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Woohoo!  Got my badge, I'm all official. I look forward to showing everyone the new site when it's ready.

 
That's a fine looking badge CountBuggula. Welcome to the club!

 

Offline Hobbie

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Join ussssssss. :P
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Offline MetalDestroyer

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What ? Cockpit is not a priority !! xD

 

Offline CountBuggula

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I would LOVE to see cockpits.  One of the things they'd REALLY impact is when using with a headtracker.  Trying to know what direction you're looking in and what direction you're going is really difficult and disorienting when you don't have anything but the HUD for a frame of reference.

Unfortunately, a good cockpit model is terribly difficult to come by.  Just from my opinion I'd think it takes a lot more talent to create a convincing cockpit (especially when there's live-action footage to compare it to) than the external of a ship.  It's close up, it's high definition, and flaws show up too easily.  If I recall, I believe Brand-X was planning on tackling them after the ships were finished, but with him currently unavailable we just don't have anyone with the skill and the free time to do it.  Our few talented modelers are busy enough as is trying to finish the last few ships that we need for a release.

Hopefully with a quality initial release we might gather more community interest and more talent might show up to lend a hand.  Until then we'll do the best we can with what we have.

 

Offline SypheDMar

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Oh! Thought we were talking about cockpits on models for a moment, which isn't important. But yeah, hud cockpit would be awesome to have.

 
For the other ships, why don't you guys import some models from Star Wars: Empire at War mods and Freeworlds Tides of War ? Some of them are very well made  and it will make your work much easier:D
ex: http://www.moddb.com/mods/yuuzhan-vong-at-war
« Last Edit: April 13, 2014, 08:57:14 am by zack-stefy »

 

Offline TopAce

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Dev policy is to use own assets only.
My community contributions - Get my campaigns from here.

I already announced my retirement twice, yet here I am. If I bring up that topic again, don't believe a word.

 

Offline Dragon

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Besides, the models made for other games are usually more trouble than they're worth. Different requirements, different rigging... Sometimes it's easier to make a new model than to adapt an existing one that isn't made for FS.

 

Offline headdie

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Besides, the models made for other games are usually more trouble than they're worth. Different requirements, different rigging... Sometimes it's easier to make a new model than to adapt an existing one that isn't made for FS.

this and potential legal/licencing/permissions/general Internet BS means it is usually better to develop in community where possible
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Offline Molaris

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does anyone plan to finish the SSD with weapons and the like?
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Offline zookeeper

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There is no SSD to finish, and frankly, I doubt we'll ever have one comparable in detail and function to the ISD or our other ships. We might still feature it in a background role using a simpler model at some point, just not as a fully-featured centerpiece you're supposed to get up close and personal with.

 

Offline Dragon

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I think when discussing it, we've agreed that the SSD would be around 12km in size. Colly is 8km in size, and has been HTLed with great detail. Same with Sathanas, and we've got two of those already. All we need is a sufficiently dedicated, sufficiently good modeler. Maybe see if some of the MVP or Diaspora modelers are SW fans... Even with an upper-limit estimate (around 17km), I believe it could be done. It'd be a massive project, of course, so FoTG would need to gain some serious momentum for that, but I believe that it might happen after the first release. Diaspora didn't start from obscurity, it's released "demo" was BtRL. FoTG's got nothing so far, once that changes, I can see the interest growing quickly.

 

Offline CountBuggula

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All we need is a sufficiently dedicated, sufficiently good modeler.

Yep.  And we're at least one super talented modeler down right now.  I agree though, I'm hoping we'll get some more interest in this whole project after our first release.  Having played some of the non-released content now, I can safely say that it's incredibly fun and fans are going to love it.  And while there's still a bit of work to be done, I'm confident that the end is in sight.  I obviously can't comment on how soon exactly that means, but it'll be worth the wait.

As far as my end goes, by well before the official launch I should have a brand new shiny website released and will do my best to provide content updates, screenshots, etc. to generate excitement.  Stay tuned!

 

Offline TopAce

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My community contributions - Get my campaigns from here.

I already announced my retirement twice, yet here I am. If I bring up that topic again, don't believe a word.